Anthrax continues to be a rare disease in humans in Europe, with only a few cases reported every year. In 2016, two EU/EEA countries reported six laboratory-confirmed anthrax cases: Romania (5) and Spain (1). The remaining 28 reporting countries notified no cases.
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 16-22 September 2018 and includes updates on leptospirosis, West Nile virus, Ebola virus disease, cholera, monkeypox and Legionnaires' disease.
This external quality assessment (EQA) to assess the ability of national reference laboratories from EU/EEA Member States to correctly perform laboratory serodiagnostic tests for pertussis was a collaborative study organised from February to April 2016.